Namibia is a fantastic place to take your family – the wildlife, scenery and empty spaces are amazing.

The holiday went really well, we both enjoyed ourselves so much. It is very difficult to chose a highlight as the whole experience was wonderful. One of the marvellous things was that the wildlife are not scared of humans and didn’t try to hide as soon they saw us. The cabin and food were very good. We had three guides, two of whom were excellent.  I wouldn’t do anything differently next time (what next time? – I wish!). I think staying for two weeks was good as we experienced most of the different terrains and wildlife.

We had an absolutely fantastic time 🙂   The trek was mind blowing, and Holger our guide went far beyond what I’d expected, with detailed discussions on geology and biology etc. It was extraordinary packing so much in, the Sacred Valley tour especially was a high speed dash but we still had enough time to take it all in.   There were no low points. Jesus in Cusco was especially supportive, checking the plane times, giving advice etc.All the accommodation was beyond what we had been expecting. In terms of community, it was good to have stayed in the Chillca lodge and be with the staff, I could see how that was benefitting the community.   Everything went like clockwork, all your representatives sorting out transfers etc without issue – perfect.   Thank you very much for all your help in organising such a superb trip foru s.  We will certainly return to you – I’m especially keen on a Guyana trek next

We felt very privileged to be seeing parts of Peru that so few tourists are able to visit, and we were fortunate to have had such an excellent guide who knew and loved the area all its history. The landscape, of course, is very beautiful, and it came alive as he described the people who had lived there and built the amazing sarcophaguses and mausoleums.  But I found Kuelap to be even more impressive with its huge stone walls and hundreds of houses.  The atmosphere was greater because so little has been excavated, and it was possible to imagine the feelings of the local people or of archaeologists when entering the massive gateway and re-discovering the wonders of the past.  It was also very interesting to see the adobe pyramids near the coast, and to learn of some of the earlier inhabitants of Peru.

The trip was excellent.  Everything went to plan…..Nick is an excellent tour leader and everything was very well  organised!  We were very pleased to have booked the land based tour…good hotels. It gave us more freedom…I think we may have felt too confined on a cruise! We did all the activities…fantastic….and the wildlife….well, just amazing!!

We had a number of highlights: seeing pumas in Torres del Paine- the pumas were a bit of a distance away and had their backs to us for most of the sighting! ; the Perito Moreno glacier; the stunning scenery; the Tango show in Buenos Aires; spending time in Rio.  The whole trip ran like clockwork! Every guide was ready and waiting for us at the airport as arranged and were knowledgeable and friendly. They made every effort to enable us to have vegetarian food wherever possible.  The travel companies in each country were very diligent and called us on arrival to confirm arrangements, including copies of vouchers and any other information we needed, which was very helpful.

Overall, the whole trip was extremely well-organised and delivered from both the UK and South American sides. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the pre-booked activities and were particularly impressed with Carola, our guide in Puerto Natales, who was both knowledgeable and friendly.”

We had a great time in Quito and the Galapagos, thanks. Everything went even better than expected – we really liked the friendly hotel, and couldn’t fault anything on the Mary Anne. We also appreciated the unexpected extras – the free transfers to the airport to and from the Galapagos, and payment of the tax. I have already recommended you to a friend!

Thank you!   We had an absolutely wonderful trip, thank you so much for organizing it!  We really felt like it couldn’t have been much better — and you really did an amazing job of making that happen. The language school:  It was great.  We got to do loads of conversation and really learned a lot in the time.  Yessica is a sweetie.  She took good care of us, and was a lot of fun to talk to.  She made sure to take us to the places we needed to find — like the salsa school and the meeting with Jesus about the Inca Trail trek.  The school is very small and cosy.  The other teacher, Genara was a very good teacher — she explained lots of concepts clearly.  We learnt a huge amount in the time we were there. The home stay: Miguel and his family were really welcoming.  The room was actually a whole apartment on the top floor of their house — bedroom, bath and living room/kitchen with cool views over the city and plenty of space for the two of us.  We spoke Spanish with them almost exclusively.  Miguel is an English language teacher so could switch over to help us out if we were too confused, but also wanted to help us learn.  The food was also great — they made us all kinds of Peruvian specialities (lomo saltado, papas rellonas, chicha morada), and took us out to a couple of their favourite restaurants and on a trip they took out to the neighbouring town of Pisac.  The Inca Trail: It was incredible!  We felt good the whole trip, and were lucky not to struggle with the altitude.  We really enjoyed the hiking, the incredible scenery and the sites.  The guides were friendly, and seemed very knowledgeable about the Inca sites, and we chatted to them in Spanish when possible.  The group was – 12 – and we enjoyed meeting them too. Thanks for the warning to bring an extra thermarest to sleep on – that was great advice.  The equipment and food was otherwise all great.

The trip was fantastic. The train to Puno was a real treat. Being in the lap of luxury after the trek was a nice contrast. Lake Titicaca was majestic and very interesting. Also a great guide. Walter and a great visit to Taquile with a beautiful lunch.

Thank you again Tom. The boys and I will always remember this trip.

The boat, Eric, the crew, and the naturalist were all perfect. Thanks so much for your help. Could not have turned out better if I had planned 6 months in advance instead of 6 days.  Again Thank You!

We were very lucky to have the company of some fantastic guides on the tour. Marco, our main tour guide, was as helpful as ever. The children will also mention Willow (Colca Canyon), Maria and Ruben (Puno and Taquile), Marlene (our host in the barrio [poor neighbourhood] of Cusco), Cristian and his rafting team, ‘George of The Jungle’ at Wasai and Fabiola (our tour guide in Lima). Enthusiastic and caring people – all of them. There were others too which i haven’t mentioned. The trip would not have been such a great success without the superb organisation of Andean Trails and the personal attention of Kathy (the boss). We may have been their paying customers but their organisation, attention to detail and efficiency was fantastic. If you or any members of your family are ever planning a South American trip in the future then I don’t think you need to look any further for a quality organisation to organise your trip. Anyone who is familiar with our previous trip in 2006 will find it hard to believe that we actually crammed in more than we did then. For example, we had a great open-top-bus tour of Arequipa, saw a lot more of Lima including San Francisco and its catacombs and Lima’s Inca gold museum.  The most significant addition to the trip was the visit to the poor barrio (bar-ee-oh) arranged by Andean Trails. We left a great quantity of clothes, football kits, pencils and 80+ ‘Tiny Tots’ watches donated by the Ragdoll TV company. A few members of the St Benedict’s community also donated a bit of money which we left with Marlene. The kids had great fun playing football with them and friendships were made the following day when 16 of them joined us on the rafting trip. On the bus to the river communication was easy and fun – we sang a song in English and then they sang a song in Spanish – again and again. It was great to see the handshakes and hugs between them all as we all said goodbye. We hope to maintain our contact with Andean Trails and Marlene and their work and are planning to raise money for ‘the project’ through our Advent and Lenten charity appeals.

We loved staying on Amantani Island in Lake Titicaca with a local family. We were very lucky as the youngest daughter, a student nurse, was home for the weekend and could speak English which was a real bonus.   We learned so much about the local culture, farming methods and their lives. The floating islands were amazing as well.

After the excitement of seeing a giant anteater with baby, I thought the trip couldn’t get any better until we saw a jaguar close up on the riverbank!

The trip was very well organized – no hitches at all. The Peruvian contacts were very efficient and very accommodating. The walk (other than the weather) was very enjoyable and all the people involved really went out of their way to make it a good experience. Thanks for your help and I would recommend you.

The cruise was great – fantastic organisation, very professional staff and all very interesting. We can’t recommend the cruise highly enough but it was not full – about 90 on board out of a possible 120. We were tempted to go on to Antarctica!